The balance between breaking up lines too quickly and giving them too long of a leash is going to be hard to manage early in the season. Larsen will get a hard time from fans because of it but he wasn't really given puzzle pieces that fit together perfectly. Honestly he did well during preseason giving different combos looks, and at least has a solid fallback plan of putting Jenner between 29 and 93.
Sillinger playing center minutes (but not too much) will be nice for his development unless he proves he truly can't hang in the NHL yet. Can't really go wrong since he controls his destiny this year and "worst case" he'll be playing in all scenarios as a 1C in Cleveland. Glad he won't be dominating the WHL - Traverse City proved he's past needing that. I'm fine with Chinakhov playing the AAAA role before he slots in as a full timer (if he's good enough) later this year one way or the other. Seems like Larsen will stay very hands on with his development even as he bounces back and forth between Columbus and Cleveland which I like.
Sure the forward group is crowded and maybe 2 players too deep but this is exactly what we wanted - healthy competition between our prospects where none of them get undue ice time. If the forwards are still too deep by the TDL then we can roll them over for more picks.
Sillinger playing center minutes (but not too much) will be nice for his development unless he proves he truly can't hang in the NHL yet. Can't really go wrong since he controls his destiny this year and "worst case" he'll be playing in all scenarios as a 1C in Cleveland. Glad he won't be dominating the WHL - Traverse City proved he's past needing that. I'm fine with Chinakhov playing the AAAA role before he slots in as a full timer (if he's good enough) later this year one way or the other. Seems like Larsen will stay very hands on with his development even as he bounces back and forth between Columbus and Cleveland which I like.
Sure the forward group is crowded and maybe 2 players too deep but this is exactly what we wanted - healthy competition between our prospects where none of them get undue ice time. If the forwards are still too deep by the TDL then we can roll them over for more picks.
